VOLUME
67

NUMBER 8

CONTENTS

Management &
Information Technology

569

Ching-Shih Tsou, Chin-Hsiung Hsu &
Fong-JungYu

This paper studies a bi-objective
inventory model that intends to simultaneously determine order size and
safety factor without estimating shortage cost or implicitly conducting
monetary evaluation of customer service. A solution algorithm based on
electromagnetism-like mechanism is employed to analyze tradeoff between
expected total relevant cost and expected number of stockout occasion under
probabilistic demand. Inventory decisions generated from MOEMO (multi-objective
electromagnetism-like optimization) are not easily dominated by traditional
methods, but also MOEMO tradeoff spread much wider than those of sequential
and simultaneous methods.

574

S B Gayen, B Dam & D Patranabis

This paper presents implementation of TadaoKasami
decoding algorithm for improved error trapping decoding and firmware
realization details. Algorithm has been applied to cyclic (n, k) codes [Golay
(23, 12) and BCH (31, 16)] for triple error correction. Microblaze 32-bit
soft core processor was used with a Xilinx Spartan3 FPGA. To test decoder
functionality, a test procedure with all possible error combination is
devised. Profiling of execution time with no error and with error is
presented along with hardware resource utilization of FPGA.

Management &
Information Technology

579

V P
Eswaramurthy

This paper presents tabu search to solve job shop
scheduling problems. Various neighborhood strategies are introduced and an
algorithm is developed to analyze performance of these strategies with new
dynamic tabu length strategy. Performance of algorithm is tested using
well-known benchmark problems and also compared with other algorithms.

589

Role
of Indian educational and R & D institutions in knowledge sharing

S A Hasan, A K Pal, S C Dhawan & RajeshLuthra

Financial support has been provided to Indian
institutions including universities, R&D institutions, institutions of
national importance and colleges by Human Resource Development Group (HRDG)
of CSIR to promote interaction and knowledge sharing through organization of
conferences. During 2003-04 to 2005-06, universities organized maximum
conferences (593, 40.4%), followed by R & D Institutions (364, 24.8%),
colleges (264, 18.0%), scientific societies (127, 8.6%) and institutions of
national importance (121, 8.2%). Institutions of national importance and
deemed universities played a proactive role in promoting knowledge sharing
(in terms of conferences organized) in engineering sciences, and central
& state universities, R&D institutions, colleges, scientific
societies in life sciences.

S & T and Industrial Research

599

Conceptual
design and prototype of an ergonomic back-leaning posture support for
motorbike riders

K Karmegam, M Y Ismail, S M Sapuan &
N Ismail

This
study presents a prototype of an ergonomic back-leaning postures support for
motorbike in Malaysia.
Motorbike riders are more exposed to musculoskeletal disorders such as lower
back pain. Prototype consists of two basic components, frame and backrest
cushion. Prototype back-leaning posture support is evaluated by comparing it
with anthropometry data in terms of flexible range accommodations and by test
runs on road with riders. Prototype
has shown better comfort seating, adjustability, stability, solidity,
durability and safety for riders.

S & T and Industrial Research

605

Effect of impulsive noise on military personnel – A case study

ArianiCelli, AngelaRibas & PauloHenriqueTrombettaZannin

Present study measures effects
of impulsive noise level and assesses audiologically occurrence of
noise-induced hearing loss or temporary threshold shift (TTS) during gunshot
practice by military men. No significant variation in hearing threshold in
any frequency before and after gunshot practice was observed, thus no TTS was
detected. Alterations in hearing thresholds at 6 kHz and 8 kHz were observed
in individuals who already presented cochlear hearing loss. Individuals
reported following effects: tinnitus, 21; dizziness, 13; discomfort under
loud sounds, 26; and difficulties in speech comprehension, 26%.

Influence of oxidative and non-oxidative
conditions on petroleum pitch properties

Manoj Srivastava, Ranvir Singh,
Manoj Kumar, U C Agarwal & M O Garg

A
series of pitches were prepared by thermal treatment of petroleum feedstock
under oxidative and non-oxidative conditions at 350-450°C, to study
transformation behavior of feed components. Influence of type of oxidizing
gas and oxidizing agent on softening point (SP), coking value (CV), quinoline
insolubles (QI) and toluene insolubles (TI) was studied. Rate of increase of
SP of pitch has been found more in oxidative conditions than in non-oxidative
conditions. Oxidative conditions may also lead to reduction in stabilization
period for making carbon fibers and activated carbon spheres. Formation of
TI/QI is more under air/oxygen purging as compared to nitrogen purging.

Waste Treatment and
Utilization

622

Optimization of cultural conditions and
their statistical interpretation for production of indole-3-acetic acid by Bacillus
subtilis CM5 using cassava fibrous residue